


the freedom of flying

by castlestormed



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Character sketches, Conversations, Gen, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-27 16:27:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7625743
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/castlestormed/pseuds/castlestormed
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The best part about being a superhero is the flying. And okay, maybe it isn't flying as it is commonly known.</p><p>Or: Adrien and his supehero feels.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The best part about being a superhero is the  _flying_. And okay, maybe it isn't flying as it is commonly known.

He needs a bit of a running start and he needs to launch off the ground at a specific angle, at a specific speed, at a specific moment. It takes many, many painful tries before he can do it as accurately as he could now but each and every bruise he earned was worth it (and even gives him some time off from fencing as that's what takes the blame).

It's a little more complicated, this business of how he flies, but it's  _freedom_  nonetheless. When he is several, unimaginable feet off the ground, gliding through a wind that slides past his cheeks and into the tangles of his hair, he can look down and see that his whole house has shrunk to a size that he can close into a fist - it's an oddly satisfying feeling in his mind.

His moments in the sky are always short-lived, though. He probably falls more than he flies. When he is hurtling down from hundreds of feet in the air, there is a moment where he feels like his stomach is dragging behind the rest of him. It used to be nauseating, but lately he has begun to associate the feeling with.... excitement. A kind of staggered high.

Plagg makes a face when he confesses this thought after one particularly thrilling day.

"Kid, you are waaaaay too excited about all of this," he deadpans as a newly detransformed Adrien rides out the last of an adrenaline rush by bouncing on his bed. "We didn't even do anything new this week."

"We saved that cat from falling out of a tree today though? That was  _awesome_."

"Sure but that only happened 'cause your aim is improving."

At the time, it had been three weeks since Adrien Agreste received his miraculous, which means that he was still clumsy at the whole propelling-yourself-through-the-air-on-your-extendable-staff thing. The cat had been on a wobbling tree limb that stretched well over a busy street. If it had fallen any further - bam, roadkill. And actually, Adrien's actions had nearly made him into roadkill as well.

"Can't believe I'm saying this but you wanna try looking before leaping next time?"

"Awwwwwwww," the boy coos, and the white of his wide grin is clear even though he has not stopped jumping for five minutes straight. "You worried about me, Plagg? That's sweet!"

"That's disgusting," the kwami corrects, flying over to the bed with his tiny dark arms crossed grumpily over his chest. "And I'm just being practical. I don't wanna go through the whole getting-to-know-you dance with some scruffy new miraculous holder any time soon, alright?"

"Is this your way of telling me you like me, Plagg? Cause I like you too," Adrien titters in between more bouts of cheerful bouncing. "You're really cool for a god of misfortune."

Plagg rolls his eyes. "Save the sap for Ladybug and point me to where the cheese is at, you insufferable ball of energy."


	2. Chapter 2

It is not that Adrien is not careful - because he is. It’s what he’s used to.

Hang back and observe. How do the others react? Craft a situation where the outcome is a positive reaction. Avoid anything that might cause a large disturbance.

Adrien Agreste spent fifteen years in his father’s house learning the full value of discretion. In quiet moments spent alone, even he is a little shocked by how ten seconds as Chat gives him the strength to throw all that caution to the wind.

Like with the flying, the high only lasts as long as a moment. The falling is when the akuma has been defeated or the night sky has begun to brighten over the horizon. The hard landing is when he returns to a room so large that he feels like he is being swallowed in the silence that fills it. When the mask is off, the fading touch of magic uncovers aches and pains in joints and muscles, a reminder that underneath the newfound strength and speed, he is made of a flesh and blood body that will protest if put under extreme duress.

Yet despite all this he had practiced his flying method every chance he got until one day he surprised himself with the discovery that he could fly and fall in any direction he aimed for.

Adrien is no stranger to accomplishments, but this was an accomplishment that wasn’t a result of a carefully planned schedule revolved around hours of lessons and training and practicing and studying. He knows that hard work bears fruit in the form of accomplishments that he can display at the next big business function that his father hosts. He knows that his accomplishments make his father happy. He knows that if his father is happy, he too is happy.

He knows what success feels like - or so he thought, until he learned to fly. 


	3. Chapter 3

“Something the matter, chaton?”

Ladybug is standing at the edge of a rooftop, poised to jump, a frown set on her brow. He had been following behind her, lost in thought.

“Nope!” is what he says after a moment of wide eyed staring because he wasn’t expecting the question, nor is he in the headspace to answer it.

“You sure?” his partner asks. She sounds almost suspicious.

“ _Paw_ sitive.” The automatic response elicits a tiny grimace in her, which brings out a full blown grin in him. “Why the question?” he asks, head tilting.

The winding yoyo in her hand slows down to a thoughtful stop. She leans a little on the leg she’d propped up on the ledge, and appraises him. “I dunno… You seem a little out of it.”

“Do I?”

“It’s getting late and aside from when we met up, you’ve only made the one pun,” she explains.

His cat ears perked up in delight. “So you just miss my puns, huh.”

“That’s not it, you goof,” she says with some exasperation, standing straighter, gathering her dignity. “You’ve been really quiet this entire time. I was just wondering if… you know…” She gestured vaguely. “If something’s bothering you, you can always take a rest day.”

He blinks at her. Then the small frozen smile on his face grows. “Are you worried about me, m’lady?”

“Don’t turn this into a flirtation, Chat Noir,” she says flatly. “Why _wouldn’t_ I be? You’re my partner.”

“And me being quiet is something that concerns you?”

“I don’t know.” she shoots back evenly. “Should it?”

“Not this time. I was just thinking,” he says, shrugging a shoulder, grin going lopsided. “Shocking, right?”

“Huh… A little.” She smiles back with what appears to be hesitation, and there is a pause in which she looks everywhere else but at him. They’ve spent a bit of time now together so he has discovered that she gets antsy whenever the conversation shifts to anything that might have to do with their civilian identities. It’s so cute and so not like the take-charge Ladybug that he was familiar with that Adrien feels a little part of himself die. 

“You can ask why, if you’re curious.” Her eyes go wide at his offer. He holds his hands up in peace. “It’s nothing too earth-shattering. I just realized that I sort of got the hang of this flying thing.”

“Flying?”

“Well, jumping if you want to be politically correct about it.” He rolls his eyes. Lifts his baton. “You know, with this.”

“Oh…. You’re right.” she says slowly, memory working. “Now that I think about it, you haven’t missed a step or crashed into anything lately.”

“Hooray?” He grins wide, briefly pumping a fist into the air before shrugging again. “It’s not a big deal. I just surprised myself, that’s all.”

“Not used to being good at something?” she asks with a teasing smile.

“Hmmmmm the opposite actually -” Oh she had no idea. “ - but let’s leave that story for another day.” Before she can react he is halfway through a running leap, carried neatly over open space by a well placed baton push. He is a silhouette in the sky, highlighted by the city lights and the moon. 

“Catch me if you can!” he crows, and his free-flowing laughter fills up the sky. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things change and some things don't.

 "Hey, LB? Do you remember when we were first starting out?" he asks conversationally.

Ladybug wrinkles her nose, though most of her concentration is down on the streets from their perch on his staff. "I wish I could forget. My aim was _so bad_."

 "Yours and mine." He laughs and shifts his balance automatically when she twists around to view another part of the city. He has one hand planted on top of his staff, feet flat against the length of it, other arm out to balance the rest of him. Ladybug mirrors him almost exactly, her grip lower, her other hand shading her eyes from the sunlight glare. Together the two of them look like little human-shaped flags hoisted on a ridiculously long flag pole - not an unusual sight to the streets of Paris these days.

 "What's with the sudden nostalgia?" she continues, and he catches her quick, curious sideways glance.

 He hums, sifting through his thoughts as he squints down at the colorful rooftops below. They are over-bright, even with his mask filtering out most of the afternoon sun's harshness. "I dunno, I was just thinking that it all comes so easy now. It used to take all my concentration to keep myself balanced like this."

 "And look at you now, balancing not just yourself but little ol' me too." From the corner of his eye, he sees her mouth curve up. It's a proud smile that is no less wonderful even in the unflattering shadows of high noon.

 "Not to mention managing to hold a conversation while on the job," he adds, turning fully to face her. She echoes him with a questioning look in her eye that narrows when he says: "Bet I can find the akuma before you."

 "Bet you can't."

 They have grown in experience but some things have remained since the beginning - one being that competitive glint in her eye that he's come to know so well.


End file.
